david vartanoff Wrote:
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> First you run off the small customers, then lease
> out the branch line, but, if the short lines
> actually succeed, then you sue them.

Here's another tried-and-true tactic that works every time:

(1.) You lease or sell off the branchline to whatever poor sap comes down the pike, who naively thinks he can make a go of things.

(2.) You quickly build a re-load center near YOUR mainline and as close as possible to HIS shortline operation.

(3.) You then convince all of his shippers to truck their product to your re-load center.

(4.) Giving his shippers a lower, more favorable rate via your re-load center almost always does the trick.

The guy who was running the Montana Western can tell you alllll about this. And there's lots of other shortline operators that have gone through the same wringer.

Nothing like back-stabbing a guy right after the ink has dried on the transfer-of-ownership paperwork.

Screwing your fellow man. What could be more "All American" and "Capitalistic"?